


The Winter War

by AsanariaMason



Category: Bleach
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-24
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2017-10-28 00:37:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 9,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/301813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsanariaMason/pseuds/AsanariaMason
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war has finally started. But, with all their preparation, are they truly ready for the consequences? May contain spoilers if you aren't up to date with the series. Contains character death and swearing in places. May later contain graphic depictions of violence and adult themes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own bleach. I only hold credit for my created characters (including zanpakuto) and my own storyline ideas. At the start I have deliberately tried to be vague so that it will - I hope - be able to be considered canon up to a point. This may contain spoilers if you are not up to date with the anime, especially if you are still on a previous arc. Set at the end of and after the winter war.

The Shinigami had finally defeated the Espada. Only Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen were left. Ichimaru took a back seat from the fighting, preferring to watch as Tousen fell first. There had been an almost stalemate of sorts as Aizen and the Vizard each waited for the other to move, Aizen using it as a chance to rile them up as much as he could. It was then that Ichigo came through from Hueco Mundo with the rescue group, his tattered clothes being blown about by the wind.

Of course, the first thing he did was to attack Aizen, using Zangetsu at range – wanting to finish the battle as soon as he arrived. However, there was too much notice of his arrival and the attack only served to damage the buildings below.

Obviously, then the fight was on. Ichimaru simply stood and watched as the remaining shinigami able to fight all banded together against Aizen. Fighting side by side with the Vizard. Only Ichigo stood separate, biding his time, knowing that he had to finish the fight.

It was then that Ichimaru chose to strike. Ichigo was too focused on Aizen to notice Ichimaru’s blade speeding towards him. It was lucky someone blocked Ichimaru and a group split off from Aizen to engage him. It took a while for them to bring him down, but eventually Aizen was the only one left. Many captains had already released their swords, most had been injured and some were no longer fighting. It seemed to Ichigo like hours had passed, waiting for Aizen to show an opening, and when he did…

“Getsuga Tensho!” Ichigo roared as the wave of black spirit energy swept towards Aizen, enveloping him and destroying buildings and rubble in it’s wake.

The assembled group paused, hope on their faces, waiting for the dust cloud to settle.

As the dust began to retreat the first person they saw was a partially injured Aizen. Then their hearts fell even further. Aizen had drawn his sword, sneer apparent across his face. The rest of the shinigami were taken out one by one, falling to the buildings below in turn. Even Ichigo fell down, too injured and exhausted for even his hollow to take over, leaving a stumbling Captain Hitsugaya desparately attempting to fight.

Aizen sheathed his sword, as Captain Hitsugaya stumbled towards him. He knew he didn’t need it. He quickly attacked with his bare hand, putting hardly any power into it as a barrier of flames appeared in front of it. A fire user, but not any of the shinigami here. They were all down, dying, or about to be killed by one of his followers. Who then was this?


	2. Judgement Day

Aizen paused as the barrier of flames appeared, before continuing and sending Captain Hitsugaya falling to the rubble beneath them.

"Interesting" he says quietly as a reiatsu flares up behind him "Who is this? I don't recognize them."

He turns and disappears from sight as he shunpos towards the location of the reiatsu. At the same time, Isshin catches Hitsugaya just before he hits the floor and takes him closer to Urahara's shouten as he mumbles incoherently about reiatsu.

"I know Toushirou. You might not know it but Hyorinmaru does." Isshin says as he starts using kido. "You can ask Hyorinmaru all about it as I heal you."

Isshin looks at the place Aizen is heading to, concern deep in his eyes before he turns back to Hitsugaya.

By this time, Aizen had reached a young girl with black hair. Her reiatsu surrounds her and makes it look as though she is at the centre of a bonfire. He reaches towards her unconscious body, the flames licking at his skin as he pushes her onto her back.

"A human? A child at that." A lopsided smirk appears on his face as he draws his sword again " How interesting."

Aizen casually swings his sword. She's more useful to him as a spirit than alive. Instead of killing her, he finds his sword blocked by someone's bare hand. He frowns as a female voice clearly commands him.

"No."

The voice is musical and speaks right to his soul, he struggles to keep to his feet. But it isn't spiritual pressure forcing him down, in fact he cannot feel any reiatsu from her at all. It's solely her voice that makes his body wish to kneel, to submit to her.

He raises his sword again and the small hand moves to his wrist, the slight fingers clasping gently… before he is thrown away from the girl that interested him.

"No matter" he finds himself struggling to say "she is not important."

Aizen glares at the woman in front of him, a cloak obscuring her apart from a lock of hair that escapes her hood. He looks around him and grins, calculations running through his head, before beginning a kido incantation.

The woman tilts her head to one side and simply says the same one word command as before

"No."

This simple word causes him to stop. But the spiritual pressure that she releases causes him to be pinned to the ground.

"The Key is Not Yours to See, Own or Command." The woman starts slowly walking towards him, straightening her posture.

"How…? " Aizen's normally bland, smiling face is now creased with tension, and his brown eyes have a gleam of anger in them instead of seemingly reflecting a blank sky. "You cannot stop me."

"I Said No. I Meant No." She simply states as she binds him with a heavy kido chain.

"Who are you?"

The woman casts off her cloak, revealing a strange purple outfit with white and gold embroidery. Her long hair tumbles to her waist, some tied back in a bow, and the single lock by her face is caught by the wind.

"Me?"

The woman pulls Aizen to his feet and he stares at the grey and blue eyes before him while some ornate black gates raise up behind him. Skeletal black hands and drawn faces of pain and anguish cover this gate, almost as if it were created from suffering itself. The gate to hell.

"Today Aizen Sōsuke. Today I Am Your Judge and Your Jury. Now I Take You to Meet Your Executioner."


	3. End of the War

The gates of hell slowly creaked open allowing the roar of the swirling mass of reishi to course through the bones of all nearby. The same skeletal arms and hands depicted on the gate seemed to come to life within the gate, reaching out into Karakura, the heat of the bones causing steam to appear around them.

Out from the reishi however, a man walked out. His long hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. His garments were of the same design and colour as the woman's, except where it came to the embellishment. The embroidery on his tunic was black and silver. Then he looked up and you could see the similarity between them.

Both had the same shape to their face, the same oval hairline. The same shape of mouth and the same small nose. Their eyes were perfectly placed on their faces, both grey, hers with blue tones and his with brown tones, his eyes as sharp as hers were gentle. They seemed the same but still opposites, two halves of the same whole. Twins.

His voice was also as hollow as hers was musical, but both had the very essence of command etched into their tone.

"Aizen Sōusuke. I Am Your Executioner."

Aizen was pulled along by the chain, yet he was smiling.

"We witness each other." They spoke together, their voices a curious combination.

"Aizen Sōusuke. Your charge is High Treason, the punishment for which is death." She turned and faced him

The smile on Aizen's face disappeared as she took his sword from him.

"You are found Guilty." She held her hand up to him to prevent him from speaking "You have no defence and your actions have been observed for months. You are not allowed to speak."

At this she snapped apart his zanpakutō. For the first time, shock appeared on Aizen's face; followed by fear as he realised this time he had truly lost.

"Your zanpakutō is part of you and is therefore also guilty and receives punishment." She passed the pieces of zanpakutō to her brother "Aizen Sōusuke, you are sentenced to hell along with your zanpakutō - who will become dust."

"Heard and witnessed." her brother stated as he held the broken zanpakutō out to the gate.

The skeletal arms grabbed the pieces and began to tear it apart before their eyes. Aizen looked on in horror as more and more hands clawed at it, the screaming of his sword only audible to him. Eventually, the parts were so small you couldn't even see what they fought over.

"Aizen Sōusuke, your sentence is for eternity and begins now. Your zanpakutō is already serving the sentence."

At this he pulled Aizen to the gates and pushed him through to the waiting hands. They tore at Aizen as they had his zanpakutō but he was not pulled apart. The man walked through freely, however. Any arms that tried to touch him disintegrated as he began to pull the doors closed.

"Heard and witnessed" his sister declared as the doors shut with a deep resounding bang, and then dissipated.

The woman descended over the ruins of the copy of the town, landing before the still intact clinic. There she was greeted by a large contigent of shinigami, headed by the captain commander. Behind them was Ichimaru Gin, who was injured and held in a barrier. The captain commander got as far as "You" before Isshin Kurosaki interrupted and dropped to his hands and knees in front of her.

"My sincerest apologies General. I was unable to fulfil my duties. I accept my punishment"

The captain commander looked fuming, a low growl coming from the back of his throat. But at Isshin's words he fell silent.

"Isshin Kurosaki. You fulfilled your duties as best as you were able. No-one can be in two places at once. In fact, you showed remarkable judgement especially when someone emotionally closer to you was also in danger. You are to continue with your orders as before. First though, you need to deal with your daughter."

She smiled over at a very angry Karin who was being taken care of by Captain Unohana before she opened an ornate gateway and walked through it, completely ignoring the Captain Commander.

"Damn right! When were you and Ichi-nii going to tell me that you were a shinigami too? And when were you going to teach me properly how to beat up hollows so I could protect Yuzu when you both disappear again?" Karin screamed at Isshin as she punched him in the stomach over and over

He simply stood there and took it, a sad and serious expression on his face as Ichigo stumbled back, first surprised and glaring until he saw Karin and copied the look on his Father's face.

After Karin had finished screaming, Yamamoto looked as if he was going to call everyone's attention until Unohana cleared her throat. They all looked round at her, smiling sweetly - a healing kido active on an injured shinigami collapsed in front of her.

"There are still many many injured shinigami here. I do hope that my presence isn't stopping you from realising the lack of medical personnel and stopping you from healing, you must simply be completely unaware of your surroundings."

The colour drained from everyone's faces as they sprinted to the nearest injured person there, all bar the ones keeping Ichimaru contained and Yamamoto who travelled back to Soul Society.

All Karin could think was 'That is one scary lady'


	4. Calm after the Storm

Even Isshin ran off, with a rueful glance at Karin as he did so. Ichigo walked up to her and ruffled her hair.

"You're ok Karin" a slight smile turned the corners of his lips "I'm glad. There's still some things to clear up though"

He left Karin standing there, speeding towards the hollows and espada left fighting. With Aizen's death the espada were fighting for survival now, trying to escape as soon as they were able. Karin could only stand and watch as he attacked, his shinigami robes rags that held resolutely from his body.

"Ichi-ni. When did you get so brave Ichi-ni? When did you and Tou-san leave us behind?"

Unohana placed her hand gently on Karin's shoulder. The girl looked lost standing there, her dark eyes regarded the sky longingly. Unohana let her mull things over

"Kurosaki-san?"

"I'm alright, but what about the town? The buildings are collapsed and there's rubble everywhere you look ..." Karin paused as she looked around "Actually, where is everyone?"

Unohana smiled kindly and led Karin inside the clinic.

"Thanks to Urahara, we managed to move everyone away in time. Though I'm not quite sure how his technique works, I've been told everyone is safe. If it helps I can ask him to explain it later but first I have some questions for you."

Unohana stopped in the foyer and released Karin, folding her hands in her haori as normal.

"Urahara, I should have known he was behind this. But what questions could you need to ask me? I don't even know what's going on here or who everyone is!"

"Ah, I am Unohana Retsu. All you need to know is that I am head of Division 4. The healers. Like the doctors you have in this world."

Karin glanced round at the blank and completely empty room in shock

"Um, nice to meet you Unohana sensei. Or is it dai-sensei? All our medical supplies seem to have disappeared. I'm sorry I can't really help much."

"They should all return when we move the people back but we can easily bring bandages and such from Soul Society. We do need a temporary place to keep the injured however, and Urahara's Shouten is not the best for this. What space do you have clear that we can use for treatment?"

"Oh, you just need treatment space? Um, sure." Karin led Unohana around the hall, pointing at the rooms when she mentioned them "We need to keep the consultation rooms and at least one of the large rooms for human patients but the other two large rooms should be ok for you to use. When everything comes back there's four beds in here and stuff. That's all the space in the clinic so only really space for major injuries. I'm sure you can use space in the house for the ones with only minor injuries. Anyone who just needs sleep can use Ichi-ni's room. This one is the room I share with Yuzu."

Karin pushed the door open, as a baseball bat whirled towards her face.


	5. Realisation

Karin reacted quickly. Ducking down and rolling under the bat she knocked the person holding it to the floor. The bat fell to the floor with a clunk, momentum carrying it out of sight. It was then that Karin saw who her assailant was.

"Neh? Yuzu! Why the hell did you swing a bat at me? How long have you been here? Are you alright? How did you get back here without a building landing on you?"

Karin's interrogation ceased abruptly as Yuzu launched herself at her twin and threw her arms around her. Immediately she was crying loudly into Karin's t-shirt. Karin just sat with her on the floor and held her as she cried, quietly reassuring Yuzu that all was well.

"Karin-chan! I was so scared. I woke up when the building we were in started shaking and then I ran here and there were explosions everywhere and buildings were falling down and everyone had disappeared. I was looking for you and Otou-san and Ichi-ni because you weren't there when I woke up and dad was back at the clinic but I thought that maybe ichi-ni had come back again."

"Shhh Yuzu. Everyone is fine. Ichi-ni and Otou-san went to try and help because some people got hurt. I saw them and they're ok too. Just calm down Yuzu."

After a few minutes of crying Yuzu fell asleep in her twin's arms.

"Gomen Unohana sensei. This is my sister Yuzu. She can't see hollow or shinigami so I had to stretch the truth a bit. I'll get her to sleep somewhere else so you can use our room too."

"I understand Karin-san. We are very grateful for all your help. If Yuzu-san needs to sleep here then we will make sure to keep her space clear."

Just before Unohana left, a familiar voice came from behind Karin.

"Indeed. Yuzu-chan has been very brave. I also offer my humble shop to be used by those recovering. The small basement can also be occupied by those who simply need to gather their strength."

"Thank you Urahara-san. I will leave these girls in your care now."

Urahara and Unohana bowed to each other and the medical shinigami seemed to disappear in front of Karin's eyes. Urahara just got his fan out and looked down at the twins on the floor.

"So Yuzu and Karin woke up and stayed here hn? Curious, very interesting. Well," he looked at Yuzu "both were awake in any case."

"What do you mean? How did you know I was unconscious? Why is it so interesting that I stayed here too? I do live here."

"No no, Karin. You don't understand. When we moved the inhabitants of Karakura to take them away from this fight, you should have moved too."

"Where did you move them anyway? I'm sure they would have noticed"

Urahara feigned shock at her words and swiftly launched into an (obviously prepared) monologue explaining his technique, and adding several embellishments about how great he was compared to Soul Society and how he was the only one who could do it. However, about halfway through his speech Karin came to a sudden realisation. She gasped and laid Yuzu down gently before climbing out of the window, onto the roof, and screaming at the top of her voice

"OTOU-SAN! ICHIGO!"


	6. Kurosakis Together Again

"OTOU-SAN! ICHIGO!"

Her voice carried a long distance, causing several shinigami to look round, including two who were currently ignoring the hollows around them and having a shouting match. As soon as Isshin and Ichigo heard Karin's panicked shriek there was silence. Both moved so quickly towards her that they left trails of afterimages in their wake.

Of course, the shriek had also woken Yuzu. So when they arrived at the clinic they were greeted with Yuzu yelling at Karin to get off the roof, especially when there were monsters in the sky, and an uptight Urahara who was complaining about his greatness being overlooked.

"Karin! What's wrong? Why is Yuzu here?" Ichigo helped her to climb down from the roof and followed her through the window while Isshin took the more conventional route through the house."

"What do you mean 'what are we doing here'? We live here! Besides there's more important stuff to sort out!" Karin yelled at him and started pacing

"Um, Karin-chan? Who are you talking to? Is there a ghost there again?" Yuzu held her sister by the arm

"Yuzu? You can't see him? Either of them?" Karin gestured towards Ichigo and Isshin, who had just stepped into the room.

"Iie, well. It's strange. When I look in some places its really blurry. I keep hearing roars and other strange noises too. It's like an out of tune radio."

"Wait, you can see hollows?"

"Hollows?"

"The big monsters outside, with the masks and some looking like people!"

"Some looking like people? Iie, but I can see the monsters. It's like the blurry thing that attacked us before right Karin?"

Karin nodded. Behind her the two men looked guilty and ashamed. They were supposed to protect them from the hollows, from all danger. Yet they hadn't.

"Anyway, you two get back to being visible again! When bucket head brings all the people back with his 'oh so great' technique, we need to prepare for the hospital overflow!"

Karin spun around to face Isshin.

"Not only will we have injured shinigami in the house and two of the treatment rooms, we will need to treat humans too!"

"But Karin, there hasn't been any notice from the hospital of a big accident."

"That's because of the idiot behind you!" Karin pointed at Urahara who was leaning on the doorframe behind Isshin. "It's his technique that caused the problem!"

"Now really Karin-chan, my technique is magnificent! Sending everyone to sleep so they don't know what's happened and so they don't wander off or get hurt"

"BAKA!" Karin yelled and pulled him down by his shirt so that he was looking directly at her "Everyone walking down or up stairs would have fallen. If they were on escalators it would have been worse. There have probably been too many car crashes and other injuries to count because you forgot one simple thing. Machines Don't Sleep."


	7. Machines Don't Sleep

"Machines Don't Sleep"

The words seemed to reverberate around the room as everyone took in the full extent of the danger.

Ichigo started to follow Karin's example, screaming at Urahara, but was stopped by his dad who simply called for two people, making Urahara look terrified.

"Yoruichi! Unohana!"

A smirk appeared on their faces as the two appeared in the room and Urahara was surrounded. Isshin quickly explained the situation to the two and they dealt with him quickly. Covered in bruises and bandages, he was sent back to the Shouten with strict orders to prepare gigai and equipment for everyone present as well as almost the whole of 4th division, who he would also be transporting from Soul Society as soon as possible. Not only that but he would also be doing it for free.

Unohana agreed to allocate some of her division to help Isshin before leaving to make arrangements. Then Isshin turned to Ishida, who had been dragged there along with all his other friends he had found, and begged him to be the doctor in charge in the second room. The rest were then also commandeered into service, some as nurses to help in the treatment rooms and getting supplies, some as runners for messages, some as receptionists, and others for lifting and carrying injured into either the clinic or the house. They would be supervised by Yuzu (who would look after the humans in the clinic) and Karin (who would look after the shinigami in the house). Ichigo was pushed unceremoniously out to fight hollows, on the basis that he wasn't any use as healing staff.

Elsewhere, Yoruichi and Soi Fon stood surrounded by the Onmitsukidō and the remaining seated officers in division 2. They all watched as the towers descended and Urahara reversed his technique. Gradually, the real town phased back with the people and accident after accident appeared. They stood unphased, their mission was simple. To defend all plus souls from hollows and cleanse them as quickly as possible. It was clear why they had been chosen for this task as they jumped down to pavement level to begin their mission. Speed.

As they split up and sped to send along the souls Yoruichi regarded the devastation, a single stray thought passing through her mind.

Kisuke, what have you done?

It was a thought shared by many, especially Ryuken Ishida who cursed all shinigami from where he stood on the top floor of the hospital. He turned to the desk in his office and picked up the phone.

The phone rang at the Kurosaki clinic. Isshin picked it up while Uryu helped him into his coat.

"Understood." was the only thing he said, swiftly followed by the phone slamming down.

"What overflow will be sent here?" Uryu said, pulling on a matching coat

"Anything more serious than a fracture, bar surgery. The first cases will be here in a few minutes. Priority is our discretion, Yuzu deals with that."

"Yuzu isn't squeamish?"

"Heh" Isshin grinned "Her own injuries she cries like a baby, anyone else's no problem. Karin's the opposite."

The two nodded at each other, sirens loud in the background, and then walked from Isshin's office into pandemonium.


	8. Pandemonium

There was a plethora of noise in the clinic as many shinigami as possible were moved into bedrooms. There was a short gap before the sirens started which the Kurosakis used as an advantage to get changed into their work outfits.

 

It didn’t take long for the call from the hospital to come through. Apparently they and all other nearby clinics would be expected to do everything short of major surgery. Obviously that meant Isshin would be occupied with the non-shinigami injured as the only one with a surgical experience.

 

Luckily they had Ishida Uryū and Unohana to help. Yuzu was the only one who couldn’t see the shinigami so they decided Ishida would be the doctor in charge of the Main room with Yuzu as nurse. Once Kisuke sent Unohana’s gigai she would be put in charge of the second room with Karin as nurse. Isshin would then be free for all surgery needed.

 

Of course, the main reason for this was that Yuzu still didn’t know everything that was going on. So by keeping her busy in the main room they could keep her from seeing the ‘empty’ overflow room. Hence why Unohana’s gigai was a big part of the plan.

 

Ichigo, who had his injuries wrapped even in his human form was told by an unsympathetic Karin that he was low priority and would be sitting on the reception. This served three purposes. He was the only one who could tell the difference between human and shimigami, it kept him out of the way, and (since it involved him filling out all the paperwork) it was Karin’s version of a unique form of torture.

Inoue would obviously be helping in the overflow room, which left Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki and Chizuru. As the phone started ringing off the hook and people started turning up in the waiting room, Chizuru was sat behind the desk by Karin and Tatsuki went to help out Inoue. Chad wheeled the first person to Isshin and Keigo and Mizuiro were persuaded into helping in the main room by a tearful Yuzu.

 

Of course, the results of Urahara’s scheme didn’t stop there. Along with the injuries had come many deaths, which meant many souls - not all of them good.

 

In the first room Ishida and Yuzu worked quickly, Keigo and Mizuiro being run ragged with their demands for medical supplies as they worked to discharge people as quickly as possible. Whereas in the second room it seemed like Unohana, Karin, Inoue and Tatsuki were fighting a losing battle. The death toll in karakura town had called out many hollows and as soon as shinigami were healed they were being sent out to combat them and send as many as possible to soul society. Almost as quickly the weakened shinigami were being sent back into the emergency room in their gigai.

 

Though the fight had finished in the morning they worked through until the evening, or at least Yuzu did. She left a box full of cup ramen on the side, bought to them by a grateful shopkeeper, falling asleep on the table before she’d even finished hers. The line of wounded gradually petered out as the hospital was able to accept more than just the emergency cases. Keigo, Mizuiro and Chizuru were sent back home once they’d closed. Ishida, who drew the line at treating shinigami, and Chad both went out to fight the hollows still roaming about the town as they didn’t rely on reiryoku as much as the shinigami did.

 

This left both rooms open for shinigami treatment. Captain Commander Yamamoto, Captain Kurotsuchi, Captain Kenpachi and Captain Kyōraku had returned to soul society long ago in an attempt to organise soul society. With them had gone Yamada, who escorted a distraught Hinamori to a private room in the 4th squad barracks.

 

Unohana and Inoue were treating only the most serious injuries. Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Matsumoto were resting in Ichigo and Karin’s beds respectively, having had the most serious injuries. Whereas Captain Hitsugaya and Captain Komamura had both gone to help as soon as they were able to fight, though both had been ‘persuaded’ by Unohana that using their sword releases would be a bad idea. Still, Captain Komamura ended up back in the clinic time and time again. The last time was when the fighting had all but stopped, Unohana and Isane had gone back to Soul Society and Inoue was passed out having used almost all her reiryoku. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised chapter


	9. Komamura

Captain Komamura ended up back in the house time and time again but they couldn't stop him from continuing to take his turn outside. This time was his last.

Blood was everywhere as Karin tied a tourniquet on his upper arm. Though this wasn't detracting from the flow coming out from where his elbow used to be.

"Kira!" Karin called him from where he was resting, face down on the table "You need to be here!"

Though Karin deliberately kept her voice even, Kira knew that those words could only mean that someone was in grave trouble. It took moments for Kira to be at Karin’s side using kidō to staunch the blood, leaving Karin free to tend to the other wounds. The others were light and needed only dressings and surgical tape. She was about to set his broken bones when he started coughing blood.

Karin went white as she reached for the oxygen mask and some bandages.

“I think it’s his lung.” she placed the oxygen mask in Komamura's good hand and quickly dressed the stump, the blood having slowed to a trickle thanks to Kira’s kidō. “You can probably tell better than I can.” 

The glow from the kidō appeared round Kira’s hands again as Karin dressed and bandaged his arm. When she looked at Kira again she could see from his face that she’d been right. After a few minutes Kira went to wake Inoue, leaving Karin with an oxygen mask trying to keep him breathing. However, before they got back, Komamura had already started to dissipate. Reishi separating into the air, the last few floating away as they ran through the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised chapter


	10. Memories in the Dark

Karin sat on the ledge she had found, curled up and hugging her knees. She was still covered in blood. As she had wandered around the town, almost in a daze, she had seen several accidents and emergency service vehicles were everywhere. Paramedics running around, carrying still more wounded to the hospital, where her dad was now. They were humans though and couldn’t see the blood that coated her, congealed shinigami blood. Most of it from Komamura.

 

She felt numb, sitting on the edge of the ledge where she had landed after sliding down the side of the hill. Below her the ledge ended in a sheer drop to the path below, too far for her to jump, and so she was stuck. However, her new vantage point meant that she barely needed to raise her head in order to look at the stars shining in the sky. She was content just to sit looking at the moon, the gentle light illuminating the area.

 

It was only then that she thought back to the Shinigami’s last moments. He had struggled to speak as she told him to shut up with her normal brashness, berating him for speeding along his death. She knew eventually she would have to go back to those sad eyes, the hard eyes of Unohana too. After all, his last words had been entrusted to her. Her chest strained and her eyes ached as she remembered.

 

_He had struggled to speak, fluid filling his lungs. He forced the words out, despite all her berating. Brashly telling him to shut up, to obey her orders._

_She didn't care how many people called him Captain, he wasn't allowed to talk and he wasn't allowed to die. She had told him so, arrogantly, smugly declaring that he was_ going  _to be ok because he wasn't_ allowed  _to do anything else. Komamura had smiled at that. He even chuckled and told her that based on her logic she should call him Sajin._

“ _Little Kurosaki”_

 

he had said while struggling with the blood that slowly filled his lungs, ignoring the pain from countless wounds.

 

“ _I am at peace now, I am content to move on knowing that Aizen is suffering eternity in hell for his crimes. It is fitting punishment, much better than having avenged T_ _ōsen or Iba by killing him. I was proud to fight by everyone’s side. Tell them that.”_

 

_He paused only to fill the mask with blood, choking on the fluid filling hit lungs_

 

“ _You must……give them my thanks…and …t-tell Hisagi” he grabbed Karin’s shoulder “tell him that he will make a good Captain and Kira, Kira too. They have done better than I.”_

 

_He reached over to hold Karin's hand. He knew he was going to die. He just didn't want to do it alone. He wanted someone there to be with him_

“ _I'm not leaving Sajin-san. I told you, you're not allowed to die. But I guess I'll tell them while you sleep and rest. I'll bully Ichi-nii into taking me there.” Karin had held his hand tight in hers and they smiled at each other_

 

That was when he had started to go fuzzy. It was like a television screen, the coloured static when the channel wasn't tuned in properly. Giving the barest outline, his voice also changed. Cutting out like they were on different frequencies. Then he had turned into reishi. Her hand felt empty and the reishi hovered and floated out. It was like watching dandelion seeds floating away in the wind, before they got smaller and disappeared. As the last few floated out of her hand, Inoue and Kira had rushed into the room.When they took in the room Kira collapsed to his knees and Inoue started comforting him.

She had slipped out of the room when the rest of them were occupied and she hadn’t even realised where she was walking until she reached the park. Even there hollows had appeared, evident by the damage to the surroundings. The only place that was untouched, after finally being cleared up, was the football pitch. Somehow though, she had felt guilty about being there and her feet had automatically led her almost to the edge of the town, as if she were running away. It took her a while to realise that she had started running away a while ago. Not from a person, but from her memories.

She saw the fence that one of the other shinigami sat on when he was in Karakura. Karin climbed over the fence, intending to sit on it like she'd seen him do before. But she had slipped, the ground wet from the rain that she hadn't realised was falling.

She lost her footing and rolled down the steep incline until she had been stopped by the ledge she was on now. She was covered in small cuts and grazes, but she ignored them and just stared at the moon. She sat there, in pain, alone in the darkness. She hugged her knees, slowly rocking back and forth. The tears gradually falling, her reiatsu fluctuating, as close by a hollow roared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,
> 
> First of all Happy New Year.
> 
> I'd really appreciate some feedback on my writing. I really value everyone's opinions and adore constructive criticism.
> 
> Even if you just want to speculate on what will happen next, or just something like "Aww, that's so sad" it would help.  
> \-------  
> Revised chapter


	11. Explanations

Meanwhile, at the Kurosaki residence, a search party was being organised... sort of... ish. Well, what was actually happening from Yuzu's point of view was rather strange. She sat at the table looking bemused as Ichigo was arguing with... thin air.. apparently. Not only this, but he was struggling against that same thin air. As if he were somehow chained to it.

Being the sensible sibling of the family though, she was handling it quite well. So she sipped her tea and waited for an opportune moment to interrupt her brother's rant, while slightly confused as to why the ghosts that came in the room suddenly disappeared and making a note to herself to get some more sleep because the whole room was fuzzy.

“Ichi-nii, you're not going to be able to find Karin by screaming like a madman and fighting with thin air. Otou-san should be back from the hospital soon, when he gets back I'm sure we can all go together. It'll be morning soon.”

As soon as Yuzu spoke everything went quiet, even the buzzing in her ears decreased and she smiled in relief. On the other hand Ichigo looked round the room and saw the surprised looks on the faces of the assembled shinigami. Everyone bar the two Captains, whose faces were blank as usual.

To Ichigo the room looked quite different. Byakuya and Toushirou were both sitting at the table opposite Yuzu. Ikkaku was lounging on the floor, lazily performing konso on any plus souls that came close enough to him to bother. Asegawa and Rangiku, the only ones who had apparently realised that Yuzu was in the room, went back to discussing what clothes and make up would suit Yuzu best. Rukia had been alternating between beating him up and arguing with him, while Kira and Renji held him back. Though they had been struggling until Byakuya had interceded with a kido and six rods of light surrounded Ichigo at his waist.

“Uno...” Ichigo started, turning red “Sorry Yuzu, I forgot that you couldn't see ghosts. There's a lot around right now and they...um...they-” Ichigo looked around for some help and Rukia sprinted for her gigai. “They....they're following me.” He smiled awkwardly, hoping that this would be enough for her.

“Hmmnph. All the ghosts that I see keep disappearing....like that one.” she pointed towards the wall where Ikkaku was just about to perform konso.

The plus soul looked round confused before the sword hilt met his forehead.

“I told Karin that I could see them earlier, just like the monsters.”she shrugged as Rukia came to the doorway “So stop lying to me. Now dawn is in an hour and we both need some sleep. You're obviously so tired you're hallucinating, and my vision is fuzzy all around the house and I've got a headache from hearing things and for some reason there's too many futon's out and I don't know who slept in them.”

Ichigo immediately looked down, the guilt clear in his eyes.

“Maybe we should do what Yuzu says.” Rukia smiled sadly looking at Ichigo. “If we wait until dawn then we can get more people to help. We can find her more quickly that way, look in more places.”

“Maybe we should. Then you can tell me when you started seeing ghosts while we look? Neh Yuzu?” Ichigo broke out of the kido, walking over to Yuzu and hugging her.

“Arigatou Rukia-nee. It won't take long to get her anyway. I already know roughly where she is. She'll be fine if she avoids the monsters.”

“You know where Karin is? What monsters? What do they look like? Why didn't you tell me?” Ichigo held her shoulders and looked at Yuzu intently at the same time as Byakuya looked at Rukia questioningly.

“Rukia-nee? Why does the human call you Rukia-nee.” Byakuya glared at Ichigo

“Nii-sama, it's nothing like that. It's just because they're younger than me. I think.”

Yuzu looked at Rukia strangely before turning back to Ichigo.

“Yes Ichi-nii, the coloured monsters with white masks that keep on roaring. But, I always know where Karin is and if she's ok. I didn't tell you because we were in the clinic and you were hurt. Karin told me to stay away from the monsters and to call you if I needed help when I told her earlier. But Karin's ok, she's probably upset. She's like this after we visit Oka-san at the cemetary. Anyway, she's....” Ichigo's face was awash with emotion as Yuzu concentrated, staring into space “she's near the park.... no... the football pitch... I...I can't. It's difficult for some reason but I know she's near there somewhere.” she sniffed and tears began to fill her eyes.

Rukia hugged Yuzu, who began to cry “It's okay Yuzu, you can help us when we go out looking. You're right, I'm sure we just need some more sleep.” she said softly, before looking at Ichigo “Why didn't you tell Yuzu and Karin about the hollows before? You already knew that Karin could see spirits so why didn't you tell them to run away from them?”

“Rukia-nee can see ghosts too?” Yuzu asked quietly, looking at both of them “Is that why Rukia-nee and Ichi-nii go out a lot? To help the ghosts?” she looked at them, her eyes red rimmed and her face slightly blotchy where she had been crying

“A crying face is so unbeau-” Asegawa was cut off by Rukia and Ichigo's united shout

“Shut Up!”

Ichigo turned back again, only to have a sword aimed between his eyes  
“What is the meaning of this Kurosaki Ichigo. Why do 'Rukia-nee and Ichi-nii' go out a lot?” Byakuya glared down at Ichigo, who was sitting on the floor from where he had been talking to Yuzu.

“Nii-sama! Please put your sword away! I've been helping Ichigo with his duties, that's all. I promise!” Rukia bowed and pushed Ichigo back

“Rukia-nee? Ichi-nii? What's going on. Have you both been lying to me?” Yuzu began to sniff again as unshed tears gathered, misting up her eyes

“No Yuzu! I can see spirits too. Let me explain.” Rukia glanced around the room looking for help, kicking Ichigo further away from Byakuya

“Oi Midget! That hurt! What did you kick me for?” Ichigo shouted

Rukia ignored him and settled down in front of Yuzu. She produced some crayons and a notebook from somewhere and began to draw.

“Kuchiki-taichou. The human had to be given a cover story for why Rukia-san was staying here. They extended their hospitality and wished to make her feel welcome, which is probably why they speak as if she is an older sister. Especially since their mother passed away at a young age. Female role models are important to them.” Rangiku bowed until she had finished speaking.

“I apologise for my sub-ordinate’s forwardness Kuchiki-taichou. However, the humans do seem less formal than in Soul Society. Even when staying with Inoue-san I am spoken to with familiarity.” Toushirou guided Rangiku to Renji and Kira

“Understood Hitsugaya-taichou. The input is valued and I will consider it in future when the humans are speaking.” Byakuya nodded and the Captains watched the scene carefully.

“Yuzu, Ichigo and I are still talking to spirits but you can't see these ones. You see, there are two basic types of spirit.” Rukia held up a drawing

“Rukia, my sister doesn't need to see your crappy dra-argh!” Ichigo began until Rukia interrupted him with a well aimed crayon, hitting the middle of his forehead.

“As I was saying, there are two types of spirit. The good spirits and the bad spirits. The good spirits are called plus souls and the bad spirits are called hollows. Hollows are the monsters you've been seeing.”

Rukia turned to another page and Ichigo had a strange feeling that she was using the same drawings that she had used to explain things to him.

“First I will explain the hollows because they're dangerous.”

Yuzu nodded and looked closely at the pictures

“Hollows can be many different shapes and sizes, but all of them have a hole in their chest. Hollows are normally not intelligent, all they can do is roar. However, they eat souls. Most of the time these are dead souls but sometimes they try eating people too. If they eat souls then they get stonger. Normally they roar when they've seen someone they want to eat.”

“The hollows are scary.”

Rukia smiled and nodded before continuing

“Plus souls are the good souls. They normally have something keeping them here, like a family member or something. It is not good for them to be here for too long because they can turn into a hollow if they get too sad. All plus souls are meant to go to the afterlife, which is a place called soul society.”

“I like Rukia-nee's pictures. They're very helpful.”

“The last thing is that some of the souls are stronger than others. If they are stronger then it is harder for humans to see or hear them. So there are still spirits here but you can only see the ones that are weaker.”

Yuzu nodded and smiled. “I'm just happy that I can finally see ghosts like you, Ichi-nii and Karin-chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is really bad. I know it's not the best I could do but I found it really hard to write and it didn't come out quite right.
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying this and that I'm updating it quick enough for you.  
> \---  
> Chapter revised


	12. Karin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all
> 
> Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to writing this. I had some major stuff going on in my life and on top of all that I lost a lot of the work that I did when my old laptop died.
> 
> I've gone through and revised a lot of the chapters (I put a note at the bottom of those I revised) and I've managed to write 2 more chapters. I've put both of them (chapters 12 and 13) up today.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy them and I've now got a lot more time to write so expect me to start putting p regular updates again.
> 
> As always, I love your comments and messages.

Her reiatsu had started spiking as soon as she started to process the memories, the miniature blaze of her reiatsu lighting up the ledge, as if she were a torch. She barely noticed as the ache worked through her, leaving an empty feeling. A feeling she had known since the day she finally understood that her mum wasn't coming back through that door.

Wave by wave the memories hit her, coupled with hunger and weariness. She closed her eyes as she felt everything all over again, reliving all of them. Then, in the corner of her mind she felt it. She came out of the stupor she had worked herself into and saw hollow gathering in front of her. Their collective roars made her head ache as the memories still played in the back of her mind.

She barely registered the danger as they lumbered towards her. It took a few minutes for her to realise that she needed to get up, her movement sluggish as she punched the closest one to her and broke it's mask. She could feel the souls of the living nearby, most of them sleeping as the sun had only just begun to rise. She had to protect them, she had to protect Yuzu.

She didn't have a sword like her father or brother, she didn't even have a football with her this time, but that didn't stop her. When Ichigo had started going missing for weeks at a time she had joined as many martial arts clubs as she could find, knowing that she couldn't always rely on a football to save her. She hadn't gotten very far in the clubs, a red belt here and there. But for these hollow that's all she needed.

As she defeated each opponent she drew more and more hollow to her. She didn't notice; she was concentrating so much on fighting that she didn't even notice when she got down from the ledge, or when she left her body. The dried shinigami blood on her was replaced with her own as she approached her limit.

Karin was covered in bruises as she started to become aware of her injuries. Her muscles ached as her mind came out of the haze,wondering why she hurt so much. It had only been a few minutes, right? She couldn't stop now. She needed to defeat the hollows. Needed to protect Yuzu. She would fight until she couldn't fight any more.

A flying hollow swooped down from the lightening sky, it's claw caused a gash on her back and she dropped to her knees. She was hit hard by another hollow and sent flying forward. She lay on her front, unable to move as she heard roars above her. Some weaker hollow made a path for a larger one who stomped over and raised his foot above her.

Karin's eyes began to close, the world was going black around her. It seemed funny to her, the sun had been rising just a minute ago. She felt cold, her eyes slowly closing as the chill from the ground seeped into her bones. As her eyes shut, she thought she could hear Yuzu's voice in the distance.

“Karin!”


	13. Yuzu

After the explanation everyone had gone back to sleep and the house was quiet until dawn when Yuzu woke screaming. Ichigo rushed into the room but it took a while to calm her down enough for them to understand her. Well, enough for Rukia to translate through Yuzu's tears.

“Yuzu says something about Karin being in trouble.” Rukia looked round at the rest of the people in the room “We need to find her as quickly as possible.”

“She's hurt Ichi-nii, she's really hurt!” Karin hugged Ichigo tightly.

“Yuzu, we need to get dressed before we can start looking, eh?” Ichigo waved the audience out of the room “Rukia will even ask if the ghosts will help us.”

Rukia closed the door behind her and followed the shinigami to the living room. The two captains looked at each other before Byakuya spoke.

“There are still a lot of hollow out there but one captain needs to remain here at least.”

Tōshirō nodded

“I think it best if you were to remain here with Ichigo. Ichigo needs to stay here in case his sister comes back as we have no gigai. Matsumoto, you should stay too as I know you haven't completely recovered yet. I'm sure that most of the hollow can be dealt with by the 11th division.”

Rangiku looked as though she was about to complain before Ikkaku interrupted her

“Taicho, if the girl is anything like Ichigo then there should be some powerful hollow around her. We might find her first.”

“That's exactly why you're going to deal with the hollow. Did you think that I hadn't already considered that? It's the reason that I'll be going searching too. Kuchiki taicho, Abarai, Kira and Rukia would also be useful for this. Rukia and Kira could pair up in order to offer her more protection. What would you prefer.”

Byakuya looked at the three “I have no objection to Abarai and Kira going out there but I would rather Rukia stayed here.”

“Nii-sama, what about the other sister. Yuzu-san said that she could sense Karin-san. This means that the search would be over more quickly and those remaining could clean up the hollow more quickly.”

“She would only slow us down. You will stay here.”

“Actually Kuchiki-taicho, it could be a good idea if one of us were to carry her. If Kira carried her then Abarai and I could team up with him to deal with the hollow. Kuchiki-san, is this plausible?”

Tōshirō crossed his arms, watching as Rukia waited for her brother's nod before she started to speak.

“It could be difficult. Ichigo would not like the idea and to Yuzu it would seem as though she were floating in the air. If Yuzu kept her eyes closed and pointed to where Karin is then it could work. Ichigo would need convincing.”

“Hitsugaya-taicho, it would also work if we were to distract Ichigo. Perhaps Kuchiki-taicho could use the chance to ask Ichigo why they call Rukia san 'Rukia-nee'.” Yumichika smirked

“Very well. Rukia, you can explain the search plan to the girl and then come and find me and Ichigo. Matsumoto san will ensure that you do not leave with the search party. I will go to Ichigo now and he will send the girl down.” Byakuya inclined his head and walked out, not noticing that Rukia had gone pale, or the glare she was giving Yumichika.

“Matsumoto, inform Isshin san of what's happening. He's still in the clinic. The search group goes to the back of the house and the rest leave now.” Tōshirō pushed himself off the wall and all the shinigmai moved.

Rukia quickly explained to Yuzu that the ghosts were going to help and she kept her eyes squeezed shut and covered them with her hands as they left. Rukia and Matsumoto then ran upstairs and fought for the best eavesdropping space.

Renji and Tōshirō followed Kira, who changed direction whenever Yuzu pointed. The sun was rising behind them as they passed the ledge and Yuzu shouted as a huge group of hollow came into view. Renji stayed by Kira and Yuzu, killing any hollow that came near. Tōshirō ran into the fray, ice covering the ground as Yuzu screamed.

“Karin!”


	14. Search Party Success

Everything was black for her now. Her body gradually turning cold as ice. She felt as if she were drowning in a dark pool, moving ever downwards. She thought she heard someone speak, then there was nothing.

################################

Yuzu was standing, eyes wide in fear, as the hollows surrounded her. She was only glad that the big one had disappeared before it could hurt Karin any more. She could see a shimmering between her and the hollows, almost like a mirage, and it seemed to be stopping them from attacking her. Karin was there with her and she wanted to go to her, if only her feet didn't feel like they were frozen to the floor.

################################

By the time Yuzu had finished screaming for Karin the hollow above her had already started to disappate. Kira put Yuzu down and placed a barrier before turning his attention to Karin. Renji had followed, protecting them even once the barrier was up Toshiro was on the offence; he was the one who had jumped in first and killed the hollow about to stamp on Karin.

Toshiro had never felt so angry and he wasn't sure why. He had killed the hollow before he even consciously thought about it. Then when the horde behind where it had been standing rose up, instinct continued to rule his actions. He didn't even realise until afterwards that when he released, he hadn't actually said anything.

Frost started forming around everything and snow started falling from the sky. The hollow closest to him were frozen completely within seconds but still the frost kept moving, amplified further by the snow. Renji was so caught up in protecting the barrier that he didn't realise at first. Not until the snow caught him and started to freeze his arm.

Renji looked back to the barrier as the hollows around him froze in place. Even inside the barrier the temperature was dropping. Kira was using kido on Karin, his breath coming out in a white mist, and Yuzu's feet were covered in frost. Then there was Karin. A thin layer of ice was already covering her body and getting thicker by the minute.

“Taicho! Hitsugaya-taicho!”

Kira heard Renji calling as he concentrated on Karin. He hadnt had any idea whether kido would work but it was all he could do. Theoretically it should stop her from dying even if it didn't heal any wounds. So to say he was worried when the gash on her back started to close was an understatement. It meant that, most likely, there was a body lying around somewhere.

He shivered as it grew colder and colder. Hitsugaya-taicho wasn't meant to release his sword until he had recovered and it seemed like he was even losing control of the situation. The more ice there was the harder it was to move at all. Strangely, his kido was healing Karin even under all the ice. The only problem was that as the ice became thicker it was more difficult for him to see.

Toshiro looked around as Renji called him, irritated at being interuppted. He growled and broke the frozen hollows into pieces. Then he saw what his ice had done. He powered down his sword and stopped his techniques. The hollows that were still alive were retreating, as was the ice. Yuzu collapsed, shivering and unconscious as Toshiro rushed to Karin and smashed the ice barrier above her.

Toshiro simply stared at Karin as Kira tried to control the situation. First he tried to engage the captain and brief him on what had happened but he soon gave up and concentrated on Renji instead.

“It's bad Renji, she's a soul now. I need you to find her body and take it back to the clinic. Hitsugaya-taicho will need to carry Yuzu and I'll carry Karin's soul. Karin might already be ready to cross over.”

Toshiro growled, finally paying attention

“No, put her back in her body now and then carry her. Renji can carry Yuzu and I'll make sure to take out any leftover hollows.”

Kira looked at him sadly and simply nodded at Renji, who immediately used shun-po to recover her human body. Kira turned Karin's soul over and paused as his eyes widened in shock. He stared at where he had been hoping to see an intact soul chain and instead saw none. Instead there was a faint soul ribbon linking her and Yuzu.

He shook it off quickly and placed Karin back in her body, amazed as they melded back together. He tried to keep his thoughts hidden as he picked Karin up and gestured for Renji to go to Yuzu. As soon as he told Toshiro that he was ready they were off, heading back to the clinic.


End file.
